Remember how Melania Trump wore lots of Dolce & Gabbana and everyone got terribly cross and said the brand should be boycotted? Well, did Stefano and Domenico care? Course bloody not. They’ve gone and made a t-shirt that says #BOYCOTT on it – wearing it out to take their bows at this afternoon’s SS18 show. Naughty! Outrageous! (etc.etc.) Anyway, that’s by the by, because this collection wasn’t really about Melania Trump, rather, as it was titled: the King of Hearts, starring lots of Dolce’s young millennial sorts. Which, very much depending on how you look at it, are the new royalty – a point I think the Dolce boys were trying to make with this one, most notably through the crowns, which suggests as much. But there was also that princely opulence that always pulsates through their creations – jewel-tone tailoring, with military-style badges on the chest, a splash of sequins, incredibly rich fabrics. But also, in a more literal sense, King of Hearts referred the playing card of the same name – that motif found throughout, most notably on a silk pyjama two-set. So far, so Dolce. Recently though, perhaps due to aforementioned millennials, there’s something a bit younger about this – lots of roomy sportswear, branded sweaters, trainers that said Dolce on one foot, Gabbana on the other. It’s always a bit of fun this one isn’t it? Dolce deal in spectacle, and clothes that their fans will go nuts for. And that’s that.
Photographs by Jason Lloyd-Evans
